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MODEST MAMA

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Saturday, June 14, 2008

You Can't Please Everyone

Our trip to Portland was a lot of fun. Exhausting at times, but very fun. While in Portland, there were 38 people who wanted to see me, Mike, and the kids. Not an exaggeration, I made a list of names and counted them. We were in Portland for 14 days. You can do the math for how much time we had if we were going to try to see everyone. Take into account that 18 of the people on the list are family members. That adds a whole new dimension to the math equation. Also add into the equation the fact that we were using borrowed cars, and had to drive two separate vehicles any time we went somewhere as a family that wasn't accessible by bus or MAX.

A common struggle amongst homeschooling mothers seems to be the issue of over-scheduling. While in Portland I went into "people-pleaser" mode and tried to accomondate everyone and their scheduling needs over the needs and wants of my own kids and hubby. This resulted in exhausted, cranky kids and a crying, overwhelmed mama. Hubby seemed blissfully unaware as long as a microbrew was included in the plans.

Thankfully, hubby and I were able to determine early on in the trip we were over-sheduled and needed to revise our original trip plan. We cut out several planned activities and meetings. Although we thought the kids would do best with one outing per day, we realized this was not going to work well since we had such limited time and so many people to see. So we managed two big events a day (some days were less busy), and we managed to fit almost everything in.

Almost everything and almost everyone. Some people we saw or tried to see everyday (Grandparents and Great-grandparents). Some people we saw for 45 minutes to a few short hours (Keeley, April, The Winslows). Every visit filled our trip with joy and smiles. Every person we missed seeing filled our hearts with sorrow.

Some of you we missed seeing might be reading this blog entry. You might feel slighted that we came to the West Coast and didn't make time for you. This was not our intention at all. We had a purpose of introducing Margaret to the family and family was a priority for our time. Out of 14 days we estimate that we spent a mere five hours with people who were not family. Some of our family members only got to see us once. I guess that I am writing this blog to ask for understanding of our needs while in Portland. If you felt left out, I am sorry. Sometimes you have to do what is best for your family.

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About our family

We are a cloth diapering, God loving, homeschooling family of seven trying to figure out what the heck is going on.
Dr. Smarty Pants and Seamstress Extraordinary were married in 2001 and have five mini-Smarty Pants Extraordinaries running amuck in the foothills of Western Pennsylvania.